This tour, billed as the "Live 2018" tour, was first announced on October 11, 2017. The tour started in North American in August 2018, running twelve dates across ten cities. It then moved to Europe for September and October 2018, hitting first the European continent, then ending in the UK and Ireland. It was the first real full tour of North America since 1981, thus there were some cities that ELO had not played since 1981 as well as Madison Square Garden, which had not been played since 1978. All shows were sold out or very nearly so.

This tour was not touted as an Alone In The Universe tour, but rather just a "Live 2018" tour. It was promoting the newest Wembley Or Bust album, and as such, the setlist copied the songs and structure from that album, rendering the tour an effective "greatest hits" tour. Although it reflects the songs from the Wembley Or Bust album, two songs were not included: Prologue/Twilight and Ma-Ma-Ma Belle. The performance of Xanadu was played only at the first show at the Oracle Arena and the August 18 show at Air Canada Centre, but it was otherwise dropped. Last Train To London was not used until the UK shows, where it replaced Can't Get It Out Of My Head in the setlist. During the performance of Handle With Care, various images of the Traveling Wilburys were shown from archive images. One of the first shown was of Tom Petty, who had just passed away less than a year before, and this generally got a strong reaction from the audiences.

The band, after playing together in 2016 and 2017 had grown really tight, playing comfortably on stage together. For some of the songs, especially during Roll Over Beethoven, the four guitarists would line up near the front of the stage and play together.

Also similar to the Wembley Or Bust show, the backdrops and artwork for the 2018 shows are nearly the same as the 2017 concerts, but with minor changes. The verticle screens were reduced from seven in 2017 to five for the 2018 shows. And LED floor showed graphics, often the same as the back screens, were similar to the 2017 shows.

Richard Tandy was unable to make the shows due to an undisclosed illness. As in the 2017 shows, Marcus Byrne moved from his keyboard duties to cover for Richard and Jo Webb filled in Marcus Byrne's old slot. The band was almost the same as 2017, with Bernie Smith being replaced by Steve Turner on keyboards. The reason for Bernie's departure is unknown.

This is the same as the Out Of The Blue album arrangement, but with a taped intro (the "Concerto For A Rainy Day" intro) and slightly different ending.

The back screen graphic shows animation of point-of-view flying through stormy, rainy skies, with many of the lightning effects timed to the music. The projection floor graphics show rain and storm effects that mirror the back screen animation.

Evil Woman

This is the same as the Face The Music album arrangement, but without the orchestral intro and a non-fading ending.

The back screen graphic shows animation of a woman's eye, sometimes with flames running through the iris, but mostly on the middle three screens only. Big billowy flames roll across two side screens most of the time too. The projection floor graphics show roiling fire similar to the back screen animation.

All Over The World

This is the same as the Xanadu album arrangement.

These graphics are rotating images of the planet Earth, with heavy lights coming from all the cities, including fireworks and streaks of light linking various cities. Strangely, this means that it's night time "all over the world" since no daylight images of the planet are ever seen. The projection floor graphics show fireworks similar to the back screen animation.

Showdown

This is the same as the original single arrangement, but with a non-fading ending.

These graphics show a nighttime scene, moving through a clearing in a forest, with starts and clouds streaking by. About halfway through, the point of view goes up to the sky only, where the stars rotate and the viewer flies through various space nebula There are no projection floor graphics used. Note, that this appears to be the same graphic used for When The Night Comes at the 2016 Alone In The Universe tour shows, although much more of the graphic is visible due to the different screen configuration.

Do Ya

This is the same as the A New World Record album arrangement.

There was no back screen or floor graphics used.

When I Was A Boy

This is the same as the Alone In The Universe album arrangement.

This graphic is only featured on the center three screens with the outer screens left blank. It includes various point of view images of a large field at night, with several trees, a house and sometimes a single tree (and at one point, the silhouette of a giant bird). The footage ends with a bright light shining out from the night sky and the ELO spaceship flying in. This symbolically shows Jeff's boyhood dreams with the ELO spaceship being the final realization of those dreams. The projection floor graphics show several shimmering dots (too big to be stars), different from the back screen animation.

Livin' Thing

This is the same as the A New World Record album arrangement, but with a non-fading ending.

This is a strange graphic showing a rotating garden. It starts with a scene from space and during the violin intro, the point of view zooms in to a planet and through the clouds. As the main part of the song starts, the view comes to a garden in the middle of a jungle. The view rotates around the jungle, staying focused on the garden. During the choruses, it zooms into a closeup of the garden (still rotating), then zooms back out during the non-choruses. There were no projection floor graphics used.

Handle With Care

This is the same as the Volume One album arrangement with a non-fading ending. Jeff sings the George Harrison lead vocal parts and Iain Hornal sings the Roy Orbison lead vocal parts. Also, the string players play as well, which was not on the original song at all.

This graphic shows a series of rotating yellow and brown circles and morphing, jagged geometric shapes; and about halfway through the song, a half circle comes to the fore and shows select scenes from the Traveling Wilburys home videos and music vidoes.The projection floor graphics show several moving geometric shapes, similar to the back screen animation but not matching exactly as the Traveling Wilburys are not shown.

For this performance, Iain Hornal came to the front of the stage, standing between Jeff and Mike to play guitar and sing his lead vocal parts. Jo Webb moved to Iain Hornal's position on the background vocal mike to sing backing vocals and play guitar. At nearly all shows, during the animation when Tom Petty (who had died less than a year before) first appeared, the audience gave a loud cheer.

Rockaria!

This is the same as the A New World Record album arrangement, but Jeff and backing vocalist Iain Hornal take turns on each verse and they sing alternate lines on the closing lines (starting with "Well we were reelin' and a rockin' all through the night"). Backing vocalist Melanie Lewis-McDonald supplies the opera singer bits.

This is a frenetic graphic of the ELO spaceship, rotating constantly with various geometric designs moving in the middle. Many of the images in the middle are also the label of the promo UK Rockaria! single (with the large "A" indicating it was the A-side). The projection floor graphics show a rotating record label, similar to the back screen animation.

This song was not performed at the August 18th show inToronto show because backing singer Melanie Lewis-McDonald, who sings the opera parts on Rockaria!, was not present (and was presumably ill). It was replaced by Xanadu.

Can't Get It Out Of My Head

This is the same as the Eldorado album arrangement, but with a non-fading ending.

This is a somewhat static graphic, showing a large moon over gently undulating water. The graphic is only in the center three screens as it is the same graphic as the one used in 2016, which was not as wide. It is more zoomed than the 2016 or 2017 graphic so that only the bottom half of the moon is visible. The top half of the moon images is also missing, due to these limitations. The projection floor graphics show a moon and water similar to the back screen animation.

This song was dropped for the UK concerts, being replaced by Last Train To London.

Last Train To London

This is the same as the Discovery album arrangement, with a non-fading end.

This graphic shows a point-of-view of traveling over train tracks. The verses and instrumental break showing the slower movement across a futuristic landscape with strange structures around and odd crafts flying by. At the start of the choruses, there is a warp effect and the faster movement is through an neon-lit series of tunnels. At the "underneath the starry skies" line, the point-of-view momentarily shifts upward, showing the starry sky. The projection floor graphics are clever as they show movement over the train tracks, as if the tracks are moving across the stage floor, then over hte back screen.

This song was added for the UK shows, replacing Can't Get It Out Of My Head.

10538 Overture

This is the same as the original album/single arrangement, but with a non-fading ending.

This is a series of barbed wire and chains flying toward the viewer. It is the same graphic used for the later 2016 shows. The projection floor graphics show the flying barbed wire and chains, similar to the back screen animation.

Xanadu

This is the same as the Flashback box set arrangement.

This graphic shows the point of view of looking into an alien cloudy sky, then panning down to an alien desert landscape, with strange alien plants in the foreground. This eventually transitions to a nighttine view of a large city, moving through the streets. At one point, the point of view lifts to the nighttime sky, with views of stars and nebulae, before returning to the city street view to end the song. The projection floor graphics show an alien landscape similar to the back screen animation.

This song was only been performed at the August 2nd show in Oakland and the August 18th show in Toronto. It replaced Rockaria! at the Toronto show because backing singer Melanie Lewis-McDonald, who sings the opera parts on Rockaria!, was not present (and was presumably ill). This replacement at the Toronto show was slotted after Handle With Care, in the same setlist position at Rockaria!.

Shine A Little Love

This is a shortened version of the single version (no choral intro), cutting everything from the second bridge ("can you understand...") to the end of the fourth verse, and inserting an acapella chorus in its place where the band claps along in an attempt to get the audience involved. Note that this is the same shortened arrangment as at the 2016 and 2017 shows.

The graphics are of a silvery glitter being tossed about on a black background, giving the effect of a fun, party atmosphere. Heavy green lasers also shine and move about across the audience (but not on the screen). The projection floor graphics show the same silvery glitter effects, similar to the back screen animation.

Wild West Hero

This is the same as the Out Of The Blue album arrangement, with a long pause after the acapella bit starting with the [TBD] show.

This graphic depicts a day on an American west landscape. It starts with a static view of an American western desert landscape; in an accelerated day, during daylight, clouds roll by until eventually the sun sets and the stars roll across the sky during night until eventually the sun rises to a new day. The projection floor graphics show the American western landscape, similar to the back screen animation.

Sweet Talkin' Woman

This is the same as the Out Of The Blue album arrangement, but with a non-fading ending. Also, Jeff answers the "Where could she be?" line by singing "I don't know."

This graphic shows undulating, multi-colored ribbons flowing across the screens. The projection floor graphics show the flowing ribbons, similar to the back screen animation.

Telephone Line

This is the same as the A New World Record album arrangement, but without the muted intro and with a non-fading ending.

This graphic starts with a series of electronic circuit drawings against a starfield rotating across the screens horizontally. Nearing the chorus, these circuit drawings then turn diagonal, then at the chorus, a collection of ribbons rotate about too. Following this, the patterns of circuit drawings get more complicated, taking on rotating geometric shapes, as if the telephone communications are getting more and more complicated. These graphics are accompanied with bright green lasers shining on the audience, which make the graphics sometimes difficult to see because they are obscured by the lasers and the smoke that was pumped out to illuminate the lasers. The projection floor graphics show the flowing circuit drawings, similar to the back screen animation.

Don't Bring Me Down

This is the same as the Discovery album arrangement, but with a slightly bigger drum ending.

This graphic shows a neon football, often rotating in various directions. The projection floor graphics show the neon football, an exact duplicate of the back screen animation.

Turn To Stone

This is the same as the Out Of The Blue album arrangement, but with a non-fading ending.

This graphic features several displays of the viewer flying through asteroid fields in space. The scenes change with the music, changing with the lead versus the backing vocals, the choruses, musical fills, etc. This is the same as the 2017 graphics, but on five screens instead of seven. The projection floor graphics show the a slowly rotating field of stars and occasional asteroids. This is related to the back screen graphics, but it is not a duplicate of them.

Mr. Blue Sky

This is the same as the Out Of The Blue album arrangement, complete with the "Concerto For A Rainy Day" coda, and a big drum finish.

This graphic is a blue sky with fast rolling white clouds. After the song finishes, an ELO spaceship flies to the center of the screen while the band gets together for a stage bow. The projection floor graphics show the blue sky and clouds, an exact duplicate of the back screen animation.

Roll Over Beethoven

This is the ELO 2 UK album version, but missing the mellotron intro and Jeff and backing vocalist Iain Hornal take turns on each verse. The guitar jam in the middle is free form, with Jeff and Milton simply jamming away and each performance varies.

This graphic is very frenetic. It shows the ELO spaceship with a multicolored, rotating outer ring and the center using a rotating UK Harvest Roll Over Beethoven single or rotating and pulsating multicolored graphics. Near the end of the song, ELO spaceships fly in and out of view, sometimes showing the bottom of the ship rather than the logoed top. After the song finishes, an ELO spaceship flies to the center of the screen while the band gets together for a stage bow. This is almost the same graphic as used in the 2016 shows, but the spaceship flying in and out of view near the end is new. The projection floor graphics duplicates the back screen animation exactly except only the center part of the ELO spaceship (the record label or pulsating graphics) is shown.

It is confirmed that the band also played Last Train To London at soundchecks for several of the European shows, including Vienna, Munich and Mannheim. This must have been in preparation for the song to be performed at the UK concerts.

Releases

There have been no official releases of the 2018 performances. However, most all shows have been bootlegged. These are shown below, and the full bootleg list is not yet available.

Date

Location

Source

Quality

Comments

August 2, 2018

Oakland, USA

Audience

Very Good

August 4, 2018

Los Angeles, USA

Audience

Very Good

August 5, 2018

Los Angeles, USA

Audience

Good

August 8, 2018

Denver, USA

Audience

Poor

This bootleg is missing When I Was A Boy.

August 10, 2018

Houston, USA

Audience

Good

August 13, 2018

Dallas, USA

Audience

Good

August 15, 2018

Rosemont, USA

Audience

Very Good

August 16, 2018

Detroit, USA

Audience

Very Good

August 18, 2018

Toronto, Canada

Audience

TBD

August 21, 2018

New York City, USA

Audience

TBD

August 22, 2018

New York City, USA

Audience

TBD

August 24, 2018

Philadelphia, USA

Audience

TBD

September 12, 2018

Stockholm, Sweden

Audience

TBD

!@#missing

September 14, 2018

Oslo, Norway

Audience

TBD

!@#missing

September 16, 2018

Copenhagen, Denmark

Audience

TBD

September 18, 2018

Hamburg, Germany

Audience

TBD

September 19, 2018

Berlin, Germamy

Audience

TBD

September 21, 2018

Munich, Germany

Audience

TBD

September 23, 2018

Vienna, Austria

Audience

TBD

September 25, 2018

Mannheim, Germany

Audience

TBD

September 27, 2018

Amterdam, Netherlands

Audience

TBD

September 30, 2018

Nottingham, UK

Audience

TBD

!@#missing

October 3, 2018

Glasgow, UK

Audience

TBD

!@#missing

Opening Acts

The band Dawes, with their new album Passwords opened all the North American shows. Billy Lockett, a singer from Northampton, was the opening act for all the European shows.

Promotions

Several online and TV ads were produced to promote the initial sale of tickets in late 2017. These are:

Video

Running Time

Source

Date

Description

Live 2018 Early Teaser #1

0:15

Facebook - Live Nation Concerts

November 9, 2017

SEE IT ON.

This is animation that shows a space nebulae with the ELO spaceship first flying from left to right very close-up across the screen, then from right to left in the distance in the bottom of the screen. It's shown in such a way as to hide the "ELO" part of the spaceship. Heard is a short edit of Don't Bring Me Down.

Live 2018 Early Teaser #2

0:14

Facebook - Live Nation Concerts

November 10, 2017

SEE IT ON.

This is animation that shows a space nebulae with the ELO spaceship first flying from upper right to lower left very close-up across the screen. It's shown in such a way as to hide the "ELO" part of the spaceship. Heard is a short edit of Evil Woman.

Live 2018 Early Teaser #3

0:15

Facebook - Live Nation Concerts

November 11, 2017

SEE IT ON.

This is animation that shows a space nebulae with the ELO spaceship first flying toward the screen, then the text "Jeff Lynne's ELO" is displayed. The spaceship flies toward the viewer and below the bottom of the screen, revealing a "Live 2018" text. Heard is a short edit of Mr. Blue Sky.

Live 2018 Announcement

0:15

Facebook - Live Nation Concerts

November 13, 2017

SEE IT ON.

This features many quick cuts of ELO from the Live At Wembley concert, mixed with various ELO spaceship graphics, all while an announcer touts the tour and short bits of Don't Bring Me Down, Mr. Blue Sky and Evil Woman play. The end shows text anouncing the tour and tickets for sale as well as the release of Wembley Or Bust on November 17. This video, unedited, was used multiple times on Facebook and YouTube to promote several individual North American shows.

Jeff Lynne's ELO at SSE Arena Belfast

0:30

YouTube - SSE Arena Belfast

November 13, 2017

SEE IT ON.

It shows some ELO animations and several scenes from the Wembley Or Bust concert, while featuring audio clips of Don't Bring Me Down, Evil Woman, Mr. Blue Sky, Livin' Thing and Telephone Line, all while an announcer in English touts the tour and the Wembley Or Bust album.

Jeff Lynne's ELO at American Airlines Center Dallas

0:30

Facebook - American Airlines Center

November 13, 2017

SEE IT ON.

It shows some ELO animations and several scenes from the Wembley Or Bust concert, while featuring audio clips of Don't Bring Me Down, Evil Woman, Mr. Blue Sky, Livin' Thing and Telephone Line, all while an announcer in English touts the tour and the Wembley Or Bust album.

Jeff Lynne's ELO in Stockholm 2018

0:30

YouTube - Live Nation Sweden

November 15, 2017

SEE IT ON.

It shows some ELO animations and several scenes from the Wembley Or Bust concert, while featuring audio clips of Don't Bring Me Down, Evil Woman, Mr. Blue Sky, Livin' Thing and Telephone Line, all while an announcer in English touts the tour and the Wembley Or Bust album.

Jeff Lynne's ELO - 3Arena - October 25th 2018

0:07

YouTube - MCD Productions

November 15, 2017

SEE IT ON.

It shows some very short ELO animations and several scenes from the Wembley Or Bust concert, while featuring audio clips of Don't Bring Me Down, Evil Woman, and Mr. Blue Sky, all while an announcer in English touts the tour.

Jeff Lynne's ELO - 3Arena Dublin - October 25th 2018

0:30

YouTube - MCD Productions

November 15, 2017

SEE IT ON.

It shows some ELO animations and several scenes from the Wembley Or Bust concert, while featuring audio clips of Don't Bring Me Down, Evil Woman, Mr. Blue Sky, Livin' Thing and Telephone Line, all while an announcer in English touts the tour and the Wembley Or Bust album.

Jeff Lynne's ELO in Germany 2018

0:20

YouTube - Live Nation GSA

November 16, 2017

SEE IT ON.

It shows some ELO animations and several scenes from the Wembley Or Bust concert, while featuring audio clips of Evil Woman, Livin' Thing, Don't Bring Me Down, and Telephone Line, all while an announcer in German touts the tour and the Wembley Or Bust album. All five German and Austrian dates are mentioned and displayed on screen.

Jeff Lynne's ELO in Copenhagen 2018

0:30

YouTube - Live Nation DK

November 16, 2017

SEE IT ON.

It shows some ELO animations and several scenes from the Wembley Or Bust concert, while featuring audio clips of Don't Bring Me Down, Evil Woman, Mr. Blue Sky, Livin' Thing and Telephone Line, all while an announcer in English touts the tour and the Wembley Or Bust album. Note that this is the exact same commercial as the one for Stockholm, including the announcer, with teh exception of different screen text specfic to the Copenhagen concert location, date and where to purchase.

Jeff Lynne's ELO. 3 October 2018, The SSE Hydro

0:20

YouTube - The SSE Hydro

November 20, 2017

SEE IT ON.

It shows some ELO animations and several scenes from the Wembley Or Bust concert, while featuring audio clips of Don't Bring Me Down, Mr. Blue Sky, and Evil Woman, all while an announcer in English touts the tour and the Wembley Or Bust album.

Jeff Lynne's ELO at the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham on 30 September 2018

0:20

YouTube - Motorpoint Arena

November 22, 2017

SEE IT ON.

It shows some ELO animations and several scenes from the Wembley Or Bust concert, while featuring audio clips of Don't Bring Me Down, Mr. Blue Sky, and Evil Woman, all while an announcer in English touts the tour and the Wembley Or Bust album.

NEW SHOW ADDED (London O2)

0:20

Facebook - Jeff Lynne Official

March 19, 2018

SEE IT ON.

It shows some ELO animations and several scenes from the Wembley Or Bust concert, while featuring audio clips of Don't Bring Me Down, Mr. Blue Sky, and Evil Woman, all while an announcer in English touts the tour and new show added for the O2 and the Wembley Or Bust album.

No other photos from this tour are currently available. If you have any to share, please contact the email address at the bottom of this page.

Fan Comments

Enter comments only about this tour. (Inappropriate comments will be removed.)

At Newcastle last night and the performance was superb ...!!

Been a fanboy of ELO since i heard "Beethoven" on AM radio in LA back in 73! Loved the Move's Looking On, and it was 1st album i ever bought in '70. Wife asked me for my 65th on Aug 4, "eagles or ELO concert". Replied: "ELO a hundred times over!!!" On Aug 5th i was thrilled that it WAS studio quality (one of Jeff's unfounded concerns at Wembley). Jeff's voice at 70 is still one of the cleanest, if not THE cleanest!!! Band was fantastic, vocals were spot on! As the manager says to Jeff in the Wembley video, "Brilliant"!!! NO argument here. The updated "Roll Over Beethoven" took me by surprise, but it was a ROCKIN' redo. Jeff knows best! As you can tell, i bot the Wembley or Bust BluRay the day after, on Aug 6th. Cant wait for Jeffs next gig in L.A. SIR Jeff (overdue!!), may you be like the energizer bunny......on and on and on ........!! LOVE YOU AND YOUR GREAT COMPOSITIONS MAN!!! Nick.

Definitely Jeff Lynnes E.L.O. A Brilliant show and for my Opinion, Live 2018 A Show of The Year any artist confused. Congratulations at all Members of The Band and Jeff Lynne we still prove that he is a Genius.

This page is intended to be a complete record of information on the Jeff Lynne's ELO's Live 2018 tour. If you notice any errors or omissions (which there are many), please contact me at jefflynnesongs@gmail.com and let me know. I strive for accuracy.